ARR Needs Significant Cuts to the MSQ

[LeCorbeaux]

I know it doesn't get better after, but at least the story starts to pick up (e.g. WOL actually has a stake in the story rather than just following one or more Scions in a circuit around Aldenard) somewhere around Shiva, which is enough of a hook for most people.

But my WoL had a lot of stake in ARR! For example, after hearing that the Gridanians used the homes of my ancestors as a dumping ground for their dead, let the place go to ruin, and now have a problem with undead and some cult in there, I would have loved to tell Miounne where exactly she can shove the idea that I'm the one to fix their self-inflicted problems.

I just wasn't allowed to.

[Aidorouge]

People love saying this, but they need to understand that a lot of new players give up on the game because of ARR.

And I would argue it's not because of the story, but because of how you're able to progress it. Crystal Tower was hands-down the biggest sprout killer I ever saw back when I played on Dynamis, and MSQ trials don't help either, especially once a new player steps into Shadowbringers, assuming they even make it that far.

So long as new player MSQ progress gets locked behind group content that requires veteran players to show up (and stay), it's always going to be impossible to keep new players around because they literally get stuck and can't go any further after certain points. Making them meander around doing inane tasks during solo quests isn't great either, but they can at least skip the cutscenes if they're that bored of the story in the story-driven MMO they signed up for... and they may as well keep right on skipping cutscenes all the way through because it's not like anything in SHB or EW will make sense for them anyway.

But there's no just skipping Crystal Tower, not without at least 11 other people, and then hoping 2 of them stick around afterwards, otherwise its back to making a new PF provided of course that a new player even knows how to make one to begin with and doesn't try to just direct queue into every part of Crystal Tower... which then drags jilted veterans into their thousandth run of the place, assuming it pops at all. Which it often didn't on Dynamis, so you NEEDED to make an unsync PF or data center travel (which is another feature most new players won't know about).

[Supersnow845]

People love saying this, but they need to understand that a lot of new players give up on the game because of ARR.

And if we cut ARR then a whole lot of people would quit in HW

[Kirutsuki]

And if we cut ARR then a whole lot of people would quit in HW

No cuts needed, but streamline the questing process. I think they've done enough of the actual removal of quests.
Just have someone playthrough the MSQ and make notes where quests feel a bit much in terms of running around and you're golden.

[Alicie]

And if we cut ARR then a whole lot of people would quit in HW

Bring new players, at least these that bought Dawntrail expansion, directly into Dawntrail. Give them what they paid for, right away.

[Valence]

Frankly both problems aren't really mutually exclusive, the gameplay progression and questing has been questionable for a long time and puts off a lot of players, and the story/writing isn't much better. The only reason I managed to keep going through in XIV when I started is because I'm stubborn, but also because I enjoyed the world building but also the gameplay (because it was still HW release, so sub lvl50 still meant something unlike the slop it's been since SB/SHB). Without the gameplay, just going from quest to quest without truly playing anything but reading a light novel, and going through the most infamous msq parts like the company of heroes or post ARR, or even Sea of Clouds in HW, I would possibly have just dropped out quite frankly. I love a good story, but those incredibly boring moments sure read like they were designed to test your mettle.

I do not know how new players those days manage to go through, even the gameplay outside of the questing is incredibly boring.

To read ya’ll nonsense

Why would you inflict that upon yourself

[Veritas-Ancora]

The only reason I managed to keep going through in XIV when I started is because I'm stubborn

I went through ARR because the cap was only L50
Then when I went to HW, it was just 10 more.
Then when I went to SB, it was just 10 more.
Then when I went to ShB, it was just 10 more.
Then when I went to EW, it was just 10 more.
Then when I went to DT, it was just 10 more.

The problem is that all of us who have been playing for years only had to worry about "just 10 more" and not "just 100 more"

It's easier for people to defend the leveling system because it was short spurts in over a decade of gaming.